SAY the name Chumbawamba and the first things that come to mind might be their 1997 agit-hit Tubthumping, or the moment they threw a bucket of water over John Prescott at the Brit Awards — an act that oddly enough found them reviled by the very people who would probably nowadays love the opportunity to do the same.

But for the last four years the band’s music has taken a gentler — although no less political — turn. Slimmed down to an acoustic five-piece, the band have had the chance to indulge their love of folk music with new songs that are very different to the bombastic anthems that made them famous.

“Some members of the band have always loved folk music,” says singer Jude Abbott. “We threw some a capellas in even when we were the big band. Now we’ve slimmed down to this acoustic act it made sense to let that side out.”

She says that taking the new Chumbawamba on the road is a very different experience to how it used to be.

“Nowadays we can just chuck everything in the back of a van and go,” she says. “We don’t have to haul massive lighting rigs and loads of kit around. The shows are very different too — we chat to the audience a lot, we’ve reconnected with them. We’re playing such intimate venues it would be weird not to acknowledge them. At first it was a bit odd — you wondered where the big amps and light show you used to hide behind have gone.”

As a band they are also actively involved in Folk Against Fascism, working to reclaim folk music from groups like the BNP who have tried to twist it for their own means.

“Folk music is a very broad and diverse church,” says Jude. “The BNP have tapped into a very narrow part of it and tried to use it for their own means. You can see why they’re doing it — they would rather appeal to morris dancers than skinheads because it helps their image. But people in folks music have stood up and said with one voice that no, they’re not using our music.”

In a time when many are accused of political apathy, does she find it heartening that musicians are still willing to fight against what they see to be wrong?

“I’d prefer to call it disenfranchisement rather than apathy,” she says. “People are finding that the political parties stand for what the huge business conglomerates want, rather than for the ordinary people. So sometimes not voting isn’t an apathetic response like it’s made out to be. Sometimes it’s the only positive response you can give.”

perhaps they could vote for the Chumbawamba party?

“We thought about it,” Jude laughs. “Giving people the opportunity to vote for none of the above. But it’s hugely expensive to do something like that — and we don’t have wealthy backers.”

The band’s latest album, ABCDEFG is their seventeenth (“the difficult seventeenth album!” jokes Jude), and is an homage to music, named after the notes on the scale.

“It’s full of lots of stories about music — music in people’s lives and how it affects them,” says Jude.

After 28 years together, what does she think is the secret behind their continued success?

“I think it’s built on people having a good time together and working collectively, which I think a lot of bands don’t do,” she says. “And that turns out to be their downfall.”

• Chumbawamba play The Met, Market Street, Bury, on Friday, March 26. Tickets cost 312/£10 concessions. To book, visit themet.biz or ring 0161 761 2216.